Burglaries, thefts cost Battle Ground man 15 years

A Battle Ground man was given a 15-year sentence Wednesday for a series of burglaries and thefts committed in the spring.

Nathan R. Wilbanks, 24, will spend 10 years behind bars and five years on probation. His time in incarceration will be split between seven years at the Indiana Department of Correction and three years with Tippecanoe County Community Corrections.

His probation will be three years supervised and two years unsupervised.

According to court documents, Wilbanks was accused of stealing a Suzuki motorcycle, a leather jacket and a helmet from a home on Eastwich Drive in Lafayette on March 30. The overhead garage door had been left partially open.

The next day, sheriff's deputies spotted someone riding the stolen motorcycle near county roads 75 East and 800 North, but the rider ditched the motorcycle and fled on foot.

Wilbanks also is suspected of breaking into a home on Greenwich Road in Lafayette on March 30, reportedly by removing the screen from a window that the tenant admitted to leaving cracked open. Nothing was taken, though items inside had been moved around or rummaged through.

Another Greenwich Road burglary occurred on April 1. That tenant admitted to leaving his back door unlocked. His driver's license and two credit cards were missing from his wallet.

Wilbanks pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and one count of auto theft in early October.

Justin L. Mack/

jmack@jconline.com

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Burglaries, thefts cost Battle Ground man 15 years

A Battle Ground man was given a 15 year sentence Wednesday for a series of burglaries and thefts committed in the spring.